Dalai Lama Gives Up Political Role

NEW DELHI — The Dalai Lama announced Thursday that he would formally relinquish his political leadership role in the Tibetan exile government, a decision intended to strengthen the democratic structure of the Tibetan movement on the eve of elections to choose a new generation of political leaders.

For years, the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, has spoken of his desire to cede political authority, or “retire,” as he has sometimes put it. But in Thursday’s speech he made it official, announcing that he would propose the change during the session of the Tibetan Parliament in exile that begins next week in Dharamsala, India.

“My desire to devolve authority has nothing to do with a wish to shirk responsibility,” he said, according to a prepared text of his speech. “It is to benefit Tibetans in the long run.”

Analysts who study Tibet said the announcement did not mean the Dalai Lama would cease to be recognized as the overall leader of the Tibetan cause. He is regarded as the lone figure capable of uniting and mobilizing Tibetans inside and outside of China.

But the analysts said that by formally giving up political power, the Dalai Lama, 75, was trying to deepen the authority of the movement’s democratic government, which is based in Dharamsala. This month, Tibetan exiles are expected to elect a new prime minister.

“This is designed to give more credibility to whoever is elected,” said Tim Johnson, the author of “Tragedy in Crimson: How the Dalai Lama Conquered the World but Lost the Battle With China.”

Mr. Johnson added: “Tibetan exiles have only reluctantly embraced democracy despite the Dalai Lama’s many urgings. Many would prefer that the Dalai Lama continue to make all major decisions. And he has had to push hard for them to accept someone other than himself as a political leader.”

Robert Barnett, a scholar of modern Tibet at Columbia University, said in an e-mail that “what is interesting about the Dalai Lama’s attempt to push through democratization of his government, even if this is partly symbolic, is not the practical difference it might make in Dharamsala, but the way it will resonate inside Tibet, if Tibetans there see him as having kept his word about letting the people vote for their leaders, whereas the Chinese government and the party have talked about this but not done it.”

Photo

The Dalai Lama at Mumbai University in February.Credit
Danish Siddiqui/Reuters

In Beijing, the Dalai Lama’s announcement was met with blunt criticism by the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu. “We think these are his tricks to deceive the international community,” she said.

In past interviews, the Dalai Lama has signaled his desire to formalize a separation between political and spiritual responsibilities. He has long indicated that Samdhong Rinpoche, a lama who in 2001 became the first directly elected prime minister of the government in exile, has final authority over political matters.

“I usually describe him as my boss in the sort of temporal field,” the Dalai Lama told The New York Times in a 2009 interview. “And in the spiritual field, I’m his boss.”

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The Dalai Lama delivered his speech Thursday in Dharamsala on the anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule, the failed revolt that led to his dramatic escape through the Himalayas into India.

From his perch in Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama has spent the past five decades building the Tibetan movement into a global force, even as Chinese leaders have stymied his desire to reach a political solution that would allow him to return to Tibet.

His speech also coincided with the anniversary of the March 2008 uprisings that erupted across the Tibetan plateau in China after the suppression of a peaceful protest by monks in Lhasa. Riots and protests quickly rippled across Tibetan regions of China before being put down by a brutal security operation. This week, the Chinese government remained on edge over potential volatility in Tibetan areas and temporarily banned foreigners from traveling to the region.

The political future of the Tibetan movement, and who will lead it, hinges on the unresolved question of who will succeed the 14th Dalai Lama.

The uncertainty has created an unusual high-stakes jousting match between the Dalai Lama and Chinese leaders. The Dalai Lama has suggested that he might choose his successor before he dies, deviating from the practice of senior lamas’ identifying each Dalai Lama’s reincarnation after his death. In response, Chinese leaders, who are officially atheist, have claimed the authority to choose his reincarnation.

“We must respect the historical institutions and religious rituals of Tibetan Buddhism,” Padma Choling, the new governor of Tibet, told reporters on Sunday while attending the annual session of the National People’s Congress in Beijing. “I am afraid it is not up to anyone whether to abolish the reincarnation institution or not.”

He added, “Tibetan Buddhism has a history of more than 1,000 years, and the reincarnation institutions of the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama have been carried on for several hundred years.”

Correction: March 10, 2011

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the number of decades the Dalai Lama has spent in Dharamsala building the Tibetan movement. It is five decades, not six decades.

Jim Yardley reported from New Delhi, and Edward Wong from Beijing.

A version of this article appears in print on March 11, 2011, on Page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: Dalai Lama Gives Up Political Authority. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe